by Leta Herman & Jaye McElroy
(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)
Who is the most significant person in your life? Well…YOU are! Even if you are in a loving relationship, the most important factor to attaining “true” love is truly loving yourself.
When you fall in love with yourself, you then share that love with others, and yes, possibly even with a significant other. But that is not mandatory for happiness. In fact, falling in love with yourself first actually attracts others to you! You become a light that others are drawn to, “like a moth to a flame.”
This Valentine’s Day, start to discover yourself and all of your gifts through understanding your true nature with the Five Elements. We’re not talking about your personality or physical appearance; we’re talking about something deep inside that hasn’t ever changed since the day you were born. Picture it like gold: a metal that never tarnishes and always retains its amazing beauty. It’s time to dig for gold; that beauty inside you, your true nature.
Your Energy Type is your true nature. You were born this way. Every move you make, every word you speak, the way you look into someone’s eyes, how you dance, how you walk. You are expressing this true nature every moment of every day.
Your true nature is made up of all Five Elements, but in a specific order. One of the Elements is your predominant way of moving through life: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water. And your true nature is some combination of all five (perhaps Earth/Metal/Fire/Wood/Water, for example). Your Elemental signature dictates how you walk through life. What is your combination or Elemental order?
Nature has certain governing principles or laws of movement. These correlated to the four seasons:
- Life is born in the Spring (Wood)
- Grows to maturity in the Summer (Fire)
- Dies and goes back to the earth in the Fall (Metal)
- Hibernates and gathers energy in Winter (Water) to start again in the Spring
- Each of these seasons has a transition phase (Earth), something that helps smooth out these radically different energies.
These four seasons, plus the transitions, correlate to the Five Elements.
Your energy also correlates to the Five Elements. Every living being on this planet knows how to behave like Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter at different times, and every being knows how to transition from one season to another. It is instinctual and just comes naturally.
Let’s help you find your true nature, the immutable gold that is deep inside you.
- Wood: Are you Wood, a natural-born leader, delegator, and continual project-starter? You do things that other people are afraid to do because you enjoy working for the reward of meeting and surmounting challenges. You love a good challenge: a fun, new project; a competitive team against whom to play; an interesting new business deal. You have the strength and smarts to succeed. Don’t believe anyone who says you’re too pushy or intimidating; you are the nicest person you know! Some people might not understand your straightforwardness, but that’s the get-things-done attitude that always wins in the end. It’s time to appreciate what you bring to the table and see yourself for who you really are—amazing!
- Fire: Are you Fire? A smiling, optimistic, people-pleaser who everyone wants to be friends with? You are all about love! In fact, you are the love! It’s just hard because when you wear your heart on your shirt sleeves, it makes you vulnerable. You want to be open-hearted, but some people are just downright mean. You can’t make them love you more, no matter how much you do for them or put them first in your life. It’s time to look a little deeper at yourself. How can you explore this immense love that’s inside you? When you can wake up on Valentine’s Day and give yourself a big smooch in the mirrow because you’re so beautiful, loving, and open, then you’ve finally found what you’ve been looking for your entire life—the love that’s already inside you.
- Earth: Maybe you are Earth, a well-balanced giver, problem-solver, and thinker. You have been searching your entire life for home. You want home so badly that you make accommodations for people. You find yourself having to look away, always dissatisfied. It’s time to realize, no matter who is in your life right now, your home is not them…it’s you. You are the home, the home is in you. Lean back in your easy chair, put your feet up, and give yourself a huge, yummy hug. Make the home in you so warm and cozy that when you meet the people you really want in your life, they can’t wait to snuggle up next to you in your comfy home. Stop looking for your true home or trying to fix your broken one. Be you. You are the abundance, you are the warmth, you are the caring. Be the home you have always wanted to find.
- Metal: Perhaps you are Metal, a quiet watcher who serves honorably those in your life that deserve your help. The most important thing to first understand is that the Five Elements aren’t trying to put you into a box. You’re too unique to be put into any box. You cannot be contained. You are flying your magic carpet on the wind of life. You may be a free spirit who would rather be homeless and unfettered than tied down to a life of servitude or working for “the man.” But if you see that the world needs you, you can’t help but take the high road, the honorable road. Because you’ve come to know what is important and of greatest value. That’s what you’ve learned in life, because you know what it’s like to lose. And when you lose, you learn what is more important than anything else. You understand the sublime in life. Embrace what you do have and which is most valuable in your life: You! Thrive to be alive.
- Water: Are you Water? A quirky, laid-back but bold go-getter, simultaneously taking on the intensity of life and then hibernating for long periods of time. You feel good inside. You feel right. But people are bugging you —all the time—to be and do something different. You feel patient and on the right track. You want to trust. But you’re so easily swayed by others. They are trying to change your true path in life. Are you flowing on your path or do you find yoursefl taking a lot of detours? And it’s so hard to make a firm decision, because making a choice rules out all the other enticing paths. The truth is, it’s not the path that really matters. You matter. It’s you, on your path, that counts. And once you realize that it isn’t the experience itself, but the true you that takes the steps on the road that matters, you can live life to the fullest and know that you truly matter to those around you.
The Gift of Gold on Valentine’s Day
Are you unapologetically being you? Are you living authentically? Find your true nature, embrace it, believe it, feel it…and you will realize you are already the amazing, beautiful, caring, and worthy person that matters most in your life. Now you can go out and offer the present of you, like something made out of shining, untarnished, beautiful gold, to your special Valentine. And it can’t hurt to buy the best box of chocolates, too (even if you eat them all yourself!). Enjoy!
Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2016. All rights reserved.